The official opening ceremony for the 3rd World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue, which goes under the motto 'Let’s share culture for the sake of common security', started in Baku today. The event was opened by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the First Lady of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva.
In his speech, the President emphasized the importance of education in the modern society and that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to education, noting that the young generation of Azerbaijanis wants to get educated.
Ilham Aliyev also pointed out that education is the best guarantee against terrorism, extremism and fundamentalism and added that Azerbaijan’s young generation is very patriotic, Trend reports.
Speaking about negative trends in the world, Ilham Aliyev noted the growth of neo-fascism.
“We attach great importance to education, and the literacy rate is very high in Azerbaijan. We try to rely on education and technology. Education is the best tool against radicalism and terrorism. Therefore, the forum will focus on these discussions. I think the Azerbaijan's experience can be interesting in this regard. We now bring the education system into concord with international standards. We are pleased that our young generation strives to be educated, take their place in life, and become a potential for Azerbaijan”, the president said.“The international community needs to think over this matter seriously. We can win this war by joining our efforts. Intercultural dialogue is therefore very important, and Baku is quite an appropriate place to discuss these issues,” President Aliyev stressed.The President also spoke about the human rights situation in Azerbaijan. "Today, all fundamental freedoms are secured in Azerbaijan. Freedom of religion is ensured. This is essential for our development," APA cited the President.In addition, the President mentioned the First European game. According to him, the decision to host the First European Games in Azerbaijan was a very wise decision. The President added that Azerbaijan will also be hosting the Islamic Solidarity Games in 2017. "So in two years, one country, one city will host European and Islamic games. That will probably be the only case in the history of European sports," he said.UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova welcomed the initiative of Ilham Aliyev and Mehriban Aliyeva in the cultural sphere. "The Baku process has began in 2008. And every day we see the results of this initiative put forward by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev," she said.Speaking on the UNESCO’s goodwill ambassador, Mehriban Aliyeva's activities, Bokova has specified that "UNESCO organized an exhibition named 'From antiquity to modernity' last week. Works by Mehseti Ganjavi were displayed at the exhibition".UNESCO Director-General reminded that cultures are different but mutual respect is important, adding that freedom of expression has to be ensured in the world. “Extremism is an assault on cultural values. Education is an essential means of fighting this," she said."Cultural diversity is just another name of human dignity, and we must support cultural diversity," Irina Bokova concluded.
"We attach great importance , and the literacy rate is very high in Azerbaijan. We try to rely on education and technology. Education is the best tool against radicalism and terrorism. Therefore, the forum will focus on these discussions. I think Azerbaijan's experience can be interesting in this regard. We now bring the education system into concord with international standards. We are pleased that our younger generation strives to be educated, take their places in life, and become a potential for Azerbaijan,” the president said.
“The international community needs to think this matter over seriously. We can win this war by joining our efforts. Intercultural dialogue is therefore very important, and Baku is quite an appropriate place to discuss these issues,” President Aliyev stressed.
The President also spoke about the human rights situation in Azerbaijan. "Today, all fundamental freedoms are secured in Azerbaijan. Freedom of religion is ensured. This is essential for our development," APA cited the President.
In addition, the President mentioned the First European Games. According to him, the decision to host the First European Games in Azerbaijan was a very wise decision.
The President added that Azerbaijan will also be hosting the Islamic Solidarity Games in 2017. "So, in two years, one country, one city will host the European and Islamic games. That will probably be the only case in the history of European sports," he said.
UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova welcomed the initiative of Ilham Aliyev and Mehriban Aliyeva in the cultural sphere. "The Baku process begun in 2008. And every day we see the results of this initiative put forward by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev," she said.
Speaking about the activities of the UNESCO’s goodwill ambassador, Mehriban Aliyeva, Bokova specified that "UNESCO organized an exhibition named 'From antiquity to modernity' last week. Works by Mehseti Ganjavi were displayed at the exhibition."
The UNESCO Director-General reminded that cultures are different but mutual respect is important, adding that freedom of expression has to be ensured in the world. “Extremism is an assault on cultural values. Education is an essential means of fighting this," she said. "Cultural diversity is just another name for human dignity, and we must support cultural diversity," Irina Bokova concluded.
A political analyst and a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Sergey Markov, told Vestnik Kavkaza that Baku succeeds as a platform for international intercultural dialogue. "This happened due to the activities of President Ilham Aliyev and his spouse, the President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Mehriban Aliyeva, because they put tremendous personal energy into Baku to be a platform for a dialogue of cultures," Markov said.
"We can see that this is happening within the Baku Humanitarian Forum. We can see that this will happen in June within the First European Games. Therefore, Baku succeeds as a platform for international intercultural dialogue, now it is necessary to ensure that the world will recognize it," the analyst noticed.
In this regard, Sergei Markov made the initiative of establishing a club of leading experts in each country, actively participating in international events in Azerbaijan. "For example, there is the Baku Humanitarian Forum. It would be the right thing to create, for example, the Moscow club of the Baku forum, the Rome Club of the Baku forum, the Berlin club of the Baku forum, so people could communicate and learn more about the results of its work," he urged.
